Police make appeal to trace fugitive wanted for fraud

A fugitive who lived in Thropton for 18 months before fleeing his rural bolt-hole is still being hunted by police for fraud.

In 2009, the Gazette reported how shocked residents had discovered that John Henry Bond had been living in the village after seeing his face on BBC programme Crimewatch.

In February last year, he was arrested in the Morpeth area on suspicion of a fraud offence and was released on police bail.

But he failed to answer bail and police have been unable to locate him since.

The 56-year-old originates from the south of England and had also lived in Morpeth.

Officers believe Bond has left the North East and he is known to have links with Yorkshire and Nottingham, as well as Northumberland.

He is also thought to have connections with Spain and France.

He is known to have used a number of false names in order to commit fraud offences, including Christopher Bates, Professor Maddison Bond, David Fletcher, Dr Lewis, Ian Gibson, Michael Pallister, Christopher Phillips, Christopher Rogers, John Henry Maddison and Jonathan Henry Bond.

He has previously appeared on Crimewatch’s Most Wanted list, which is a compilation of Britain’s most sought-after criminals.

Anyone with any information about his whereabouts should call police on 101 ext 69191.